Veneration of Others instead of God

“The worst form of vice that arose in the Muslim Ummah as the process of degeneration set in it is veneration of others instead of God. This evil crept in right after the first three generations of Muslims and persists till today. There were two fatal consequences of this – first, loss of deeper association with God and second, being devoid of greater marifah or realization of God, since God alone can bestow marifah on a person.”